It’s a fact of life…Kids love to have parties. As parents, we have a tendency to go a little overboard when we throw parties for our kids. Who hasn’t been to a baptism or a First Holy Communion party that resembles a wedding? Who hasn’t read the stories of the big, blow-out bashes some sweet 16’s throw that cost thousands of dollars?  

If you’re a creatively-challenged parent who gets short of breathe at the idea of planning a big party for your kids, come visit the Bashed! event on Sunday, October 28th in New York City. This is a party planning event just for parents, to introduce party vendors for every occasion and to give parents some hand-holding to alleviate all their stress and angst.

Parents can even attend seminars on various topics, from how to have healthy food at a party to how to shop for environmentally-friendly party items. If you have any party planning questions, there will be hundreds of exhibitors at the event to ask and find your answer.

Here are the details:

Sunday October 28, 10AM-6 PM
The Altman Building
135 West 18th Street (bet. 6th + 7th Avenues)
www.altmanbldg.com

Adults: $25/person
Children: 16 & under free
For more information: info@bashednyc.com
Click here for tickets

Location, Location, Location
Pick a good neighborhood with plenty of people who are prepared for and welcome trick-or-treaters. If you are new in the area, talk to other parents in your neighborhood about where to go trick-or-treating. Usually neighborhoods or subdivisions that decorate a lot are a good choice as well.

Chaperone
You may be tempted to send older children out on their own to Trick-or-Treat, but unless you know everyone on the street they are walking on, and have them go in a group, it’s just not a safe option. Instead, send at least one adult along with them. Having an adult will make sure the trick-or-treating stays a fun experience for your children.

Trick-or-Treat in a Group
Kids have even more fun trick-or-treating if they get to run around in a group. Get a few families in the neighborhood together, or ask the cousins over to go trick-or-treating with you and your kids. Just make sure you bring several adults, especially if the kids are young, to keep up with everyone.

Don’t Overdo It
Start early, right at or even before dusk and don’t overdo the trick-or-treating. How long you end up trick-or-treating will of course depend on the age of your children. Just keep an eye on how they are doing and take them home when they start getting tired. The whole evening will be more memorable if you end it on a good note.

Article by:
Would you like to quickly make creative Halloween costumes that you and your children will be proud of — for a fraction of the price of store-bought? Susanne Myers has co-authored a book to show you how — no sewing involved. Visit www.ILoveHalloweenCostumes.com to learn more.

Here are two very simple pumpkin activities that every toddler can enjoy. Prepare for the activity in advance, so your little ball of energy can dive right in.

Pumpkin Painting
Oftentimes younger children miss out on the fun of jack-o-lanterns, because they obviously are too young to handle a knife. A toddler can scoop pumpkin guts, and draw a face onto a pumpkin, but then the rest must be handed over to an adult for the actual carving.

Here’s an option. Pumpkin Painting. Think of how much fun your toddler or preschooler would have designing a pumpkin from beginning to end. And, don’t stop with pumpkins. Paint gourds, too. Simply put an old t-shirt on your toddler, get out non-toxic paints and he’ll go to town.

Simple Paper Jack-o-Lantern
There’s nothing at all fancy about this idea. Simply cut a few pumpkins out of orange construction paper. Then, cut several triangles and a few big goofy grins out of either black or yellow paper. Lastly, cut a stem out of green or brown paper.

Present the pieces to your toddler along with a glue stick and watch his creativity. You’ll treasure those three-eyed jack-o-lanterns years from now.

Spending time with your toddler is not difficult and doesn’t need to be challenging. Just give him the tools, grab your camera, and relax. Your child will feel cherished, and you’ll begin a tradition of making memories together.

Watch out Picasso. There’s a new artist in town.

Article by:
Would you like to quickly make creative Halloween costumes that you and your children will be proud of — for a fraction of the price of store-bought? Nicole Dean has co-authored a book to show you how — no sewing involved. Visit www.ILoveHalloweenCostumes.com to learn more.

Dwarf
Start with earth tone pants and shirt. Brown and dark greens work well. Put your child in some boots as well. Make a simple hat out of felt, similar to a witch’s hat but with a smaller brim. Finish the outfit with some gardening tools. Your little dwarf right out of “Snow White” is ready to go trick or treating.

Pumpkin
Start with a large orange sweatshirt. Cut eyes and a mouth shape out of black or yellow felt and glue them on the front of the shirt. Put the shirt on your child, fold up the sleeves, then stuff the belly and back area with newspapers or quilt batting to make it look nice and round like a pumpkin. Top it all of with a green cap. You can even cut some leaf shapes out of green felt and glue them to the top of the cap.

Sunflower
Dress your child in a green shirt and pants. For smaller children, especially those in colder climates, a one piece pajama-type outfit with feet works well. For the flower part, start with a brown hat or cap. Cut flower petal shapes out of yellow felt and glue them all around the hat. If you’d like you can cut two large leaf shapes out of green felt and glue them at the back of each of the shirt’s sleeves. A little plastic watering can makes a cute pail to carry candy in.

Article by:
Would you like to quickly make creative Halloween costumes that you and your children will be proud of — for a fraction of the price of store-bought? Susanne Myers has co-authored a book to show you how — no sewing involved. Visit www.ILoveHalloweenCostumes.com to learn more.

Mummy Contest
Grab a few rolls of toilet paper and match the kids up in pairs. Of course you could also have them choose partners. Ask each pair to decide which one of them will be the mummy and who will do the wrapping. Then – you guessed it – have one of the children wrap the toilet paper around the other, creating a mummy.

You can either make it a contest of speed or one of creativity. For the first, the team that has a completely wrapped mummy first wins. For the second contest, the kids take as long as they need to and you get to play judge and pick the best looking mummy.

Eyeball Race
Start with a plain ping-pong ball for each child. Use a Sharpie marker and draw on it to turn it into an eyeball. You can simple draw the pupil, or for a scarier version, add some red wiggly lines to make the eyeball look bloodshot.

Give each child a spoon and drop one of the eyeballs in each spoon. Now it’s time to race. The child that reaches the finish line with the eyeball in the spoon first wins.

There you have it – three fun games you can play with your kids to pass the day until it is time to go trick-or-treating. These games are also a lot of fun at a Halloween party. Get your kids playing them and watch all the spooky fun.

Article by:
Would you like to quickly make creative Halloween costumes that you and your children will be proud of — for a fraction of the price of store-bought? Susanne Myers has co-authored a book to show you how — no sewing involved. Visit www.ILoveHalloweenCostumes.com to learn more.